1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a weight plate adapted to be selectively coupled to the center post of physical fitness weightlifting equipment so that one or more weight plates may be lifted by the center post during a body-building exercise. The weight plate includes a locking cartridge having a fork that is carried by a rotatable toggle lever switch arm so that a pair of fingers of the fork are moved (i.e., rotated) from an unlocked position to a locked position for receipt by a finger locking cavity formed in the weight plate body, whereby the fork is reliably coupled to the center post.
2. Background Art
My U.S. Pat. No. 7,608,021 issued Oct. 27, 2009 discloses a weight plate that is associated with weight lifting equipment by which the weight plate or a stack of weight plates can be lifted during a body building exercise. This weight plate includes a plate body and a locking cartridge connected to the plate body. The displacement of a locking pin through the weight plate body is controlled by a manually-accessible toggle lever arm that is located within the locking cartridge and coupled to the locking pin. When the toggle lever arm is rotated to an on or locked position, the locking pin is correspondingly caused to slide in a first direction through the plate body to engage a connection union mounted in an adjacent weight plate. When the toggle lever arm is rotated to an off or unlocked position, the locking pin is caused to slide in an opposite direction through the plate body to be disengaged from the connection union.
My later U.S. Pat. No. 8,708,870 issued Apr. 29, 2014 takes advantage of my earlier patented weight plate and the locking cartridge thereof so that the weight plate can be selectively and releasably attached to a conventional center post that is associated with weightlifting equipment to enable the weight plate to be lifted with a stack of similarly-attached weight plates during a body building exercise. In particular, the aforementioned advantage is achieved by means of the locking cartridge having a locking fork that is moved through the locking cartridge and coupled to the center post while avoiding the use of a separate locking pin that slides through the locking cartridge to engage with or disengage from a connecting union as a toggle lever arm is rotated.
Despite the advantages provided by my recently-patented weight plate and the locking cartridge thereof, the locking fork of the locking cartridge may become inadvertently uncoupled from the center post as the heavy weight plate is lifted with the stack of weight plates during the body building exercise. Accordingly, what is now desirable is a means by which the locking fork will remain reliably coupled to the center post to prevent an accidental detachment of the weight plate from the center post throughout the exercise.